Summary of Love your competitors - how great businesses do strategy | Alex Smith | TEDxFolkestone

Summary

In the TEDx talk "Love your competitors - how great businesses do strategy," Alex Smith presents a provocative perspective on competition in business. He argues that traditional competitive strategies often lead to negative outcomes, such as market clustering, where businesses become homogenized and less profitable. Instead, he advocates for a strategy of Refusing to Compete, which can lead to unique Market Positioning and greater profitability.

Main Financial Strategies and Business Trends:

Competition vs. Collaboration: Smith posits that the prevailing view of business as a competitive battleground is flawed. He suggests that competition can degrade markets and harm businesses.
Clustering Phenomenon: Businesses that compete aggressively often become more alike, leading to commoditization and reduced profitability.
Refusing to Compete: By choosing to disengage from direct competition, businesses can create unique value propositions and thrive in their own niches.
Market Positioning: Emphasizing the importance of defining a distinct market role rather than trying to mimic competitors.

Methodology/Step-by-Step Guide:

Disengage from Competitors: Step back and allow competitors to have their market share without direct confrontation.
Be Deliberately Bad at Competitor Strengths: Choose to focus on areas where competitors excel and intentionally avoid competing in those aspects.
Create Unique Market Conditions: Cultivate a market environment where different businesses can coexist, each fulfilling a unique role.
Embrace a Non-Competitive Mindset: Shift the business paradigm from competition to collaboration, fostering a healthier market ecosystem.

Conclusion

Smith concludes that by embracing a non-competitive approach, businesses can not only achieve profitability but also contribute to a more balanced and thriving market ecosystem. He encourages a shift in mindset towards seeing competitors as potential collaborators rather than adversaries.

Presenter

Alex Smith

Notable Quotes

— 01:44 — « Humans love competition indeed so much do we love it that we are more than capable of taking competitive context and applying it in situations where it completely doesn't belong and is utterly inappropriate. »

— 03:40 — « The truth might actually be rather different than what we think is the truth might be that in fact you win when you refuse to compete. »

— 10:21 — « Competition breeds conformity and with it creates flattened lifeless markets and unprofitable businesses. »

— 15:51 — « Survival of the fittest doesn't mean survival of the fastest or the most aggressive or the strongest survival of the most competitive. Survival of the fittest quite literally means survival of that which fits best. »

— 17:16 — « You win, we all win when you refuse to compete. »